March County Councillor Report

County Council Report

March 2019

BUDGET

At the
February full Council meeting it was voted to set this years council at 4.99%.
This means Band D properties will set at £1313.11 for the year. The smoothing
fund will retain its £9.1 million, with the transformation fund remaining.
Through grants the Highways will have £28.7 million for repairs and
maintenance. Through extensive re negotiation on waste the County has saved £1
million. There are continued pressures on front line services.

The Police
and Crime Commissioner has raised the precept by £2 per a month. This will fund
extra Police.

LIBRARY

On the 1st
of February, the Library’s launched the new Business & Intellectual
Property Service ( BIPC) I am very pleased to have been involved in the setting
up of the service from the start. It has taken months of hard work from
Officers and myself. The BIPC is a service for young budding entrepreneurs as
well as new start-up businesses. To help them to start up a business and for
current businesses to develop and grow. The BIPC is a national and
international business network that the British Library set up. This is a fantastic
opportunity as anyone no matter of their background, Ethnic Origin, Gender,
Age, Disability or Education, as it gives an equal opportunity to all. The
Chamber of Commerce in Cambridge are also fully supportive. Cambridgeshire is
the only Council in the country that has kept all its Library’s, it is also
expanding.

CHILDREN
& YOUNG PEOPLE

In January
Ofsted undertook the unannounced two week inspection of Childrens Services.
Cambridgeshire was praised for the quality of leadership in Children’s Services. The report was published on the 18th
Febrauary.

The report
rated the impact of senior leaders as good and praised our accurate assessment
of strengths and areas for improvement, as well as our use of peer review and
evidence-based analysis to improve children’s social care. They said that
leaders had recognised that improvements were needed, and had taken a series of
well- considered actions. They also noted how we have worked closely with local
safeguarding children board and partner agencies.

Inspectors
said that the leadership change programme that resulted in a major restructure
of children’s services the ‘Change for Children Programme’ which was
implemented in November 2018 Has Been
intelligent and Effective.

ADULTS

In
January, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Adults Committee gave approval for
all of our funded Older People’s Day Services to undergo a strategic review and redesign. This is to ensure that our funding is achieving
the best possible outcomes for older people in Cambridgeshire and their
carers.
With
this in mind, and to support us in this review, we are trying to find out
about all of the great activity taking place in our communities that support
older people to socialise with others. These are things like lunch clubs for
over 65s, ‘men’s sheds’, support groups around using digital technology and
lots more.
As
you are closely linked in to the communities you represent and serve, we
believe that you may have a good understanding of local initiatives.
If
you are aware of any services / clubs / initiatives that support older people
to get involved in meaningful activities and socialise with others, please
could you contact me by email with the details of these? My email address is Adam.Thorp@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
The
services that we already fund and are aware of are:
Please could you send me this information by 22 March 2019OTHER
Millions
choose Park & Ride. More than 3million passengers chose to leave their
car and catch the Park & Ride in the last year. Passenger journeys
increased by nearly 250, 000 over the year as thousands more people used Park
& Ride. There were more than 261,000 journeys on Park & Ride services
in January up more than 15% on the same time last year.
EAST WEST RAILWAY.
There
is an online consultation with regards to the East West railway. I would
recommend that as a parish you take part in this survey. There are five
routes they are asking for public opinion on. The link is. https://eastwestrail.co.uk/haveyoursay?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-tCQp5zm4AIV6LftCh3qggJeEAAYASAAEgIt9vD_BwE

GREATER CAMBRIDGE PARTNERSHIP

Launch
of Choices for Better Journeys
The Greater
Cambridge Partnership has just launched Choices for Better Journeys – a public engagement campaign about future travel in
the Greater Cambridge area and beyond.
Background
In autumn
2017, Our Big Conversation asked people about the travel challenges they faced and their
ideas for the future. Many people said that a more affordable public
transport network, with better availability and reliability, would be of
great benefit to them, and criticised the level of congestion in the
Greater Cambridge area.
We have
looked at how we could significantly improve public transport across the
area, alongside continued improvements to walking and cycling provision, to
give people better choices for travelling into and around Cambridge.
Your views
needed
We are now
asking for people’s views on a range of issues and ideas, including:
proposals to transform public
transport to offer a better alternative to the car;
different options for
tackling congestion, improving air quality and freeing-up road space;
and
funding a future improved
public transport system.
Choices for
Better Journeys will run until 31 March, please complete the survey to tell us your views.
The survey
has been developed in collaboration with Cambridge Ahead and in association
with Cambridge Network and the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce.
Further
information and Next Steps
We are also
hosting a number of public events across the region that you are welcome to attend.
Choices for
Better Journeys will be asking people about ideas and principles for
better public transport, reducing congestion and improving air quality.
Following this engagement, the GCP Executive Board will consider
feedback and next steps.
If you have
any questions on Choices for Better Journeys, please don’t hesitate to
contact us by emailing consultations@greatercambridge.org.uk or calling 01223 699906.
Finally we
would like to take this opportunity to wish Beverly Agass, CEO at SCDC, all
the best in her early retirement.
Alex Coylier
Former Section 151, all the best in his new adventure.
Stephen
Hills Leading Housing officer and much respected throughout the country. All
the best with his new adventure.
Cllr Kevin
Cuffley
Cllr Roger
Hickford.